Mee-Shee, le secret des profondeurs (2005)

Anecdotes

• Tourné à : Nouvelle-Zélande et Pinewood Studios

Mee-Shee: The Water Giant is a British-German family film shot in New Zealand in 2002 and released in 2005. It stars Bruce Greenwood, Rena Owen, Tom Jackson and Daniel Magder.

Production

According to regional folklore, the Ogopogo is a creature that lives in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia. It has been compared to the Loch Ness Monster, another supposed water creature in Scotland, or with a plesiosaur. Aboriginal peoples have claimed that belief in the Ogopogo is a part of their culture, although they called it Niataka or N'ha-aitk, and the name "Ogopogo" was invented by a board of trade in 1926.

Canadian screenwriter Barry Authors wrote the screenplay for Mee-Shee after reading about the Ogopogo in a magazine. It was written in 1996, and originally entitled Loch, a Scottish Gaelic word for "lake", but not filmed until six years later. Authors resided in Britain at the time but eventually opted for a more Canadian feel and renamed his work Ogopogo.

The film version was directed by John Henderson, who had previously directed Loch Ness (1996) about similar folklore in Scotland. They first made plans to film the story on Okanagan Lake, the rumoured domain of the Ogopogo, but had troubles with the scenery and relocated to Lake Winnipeg. US actress Whoopi Goldberg was initially going to play a Native Canadian, which would require makeup since Goldberg is a US black woman.

The creature itself was created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop using both CGI and puppetry and modeled after the late US actor Walter Matthau. The film cost $40 million. The filming in New Zealand took place on Lake Wakatipu at Queenstown in 2002. Authors remarked it was nice to work in New Zealand because "The crews were very, very keen to do anything that was required...

According to Barry Authors, most Aboriginal-Canadian leaders were supported while using the name "Ogopogo" in the film. However, one Aboriginal complained that the legend was too holy, so Authors renamed the creature "Mee-Shee". The Aboriginal who did not want the name "Ogopogo" used was Stewart Phillip, a Penticton chief.

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